Morgan McDaniel on Starting JYAN in Jordan

My experience living with an Arab Christian host family will provide insight into the interplay between religious identity and cultural identity, and the tensions between Christians and Muslims in a relatively peaceful country at a time when violence against Christians persists in neighboring nations. The geographical location of Jordan, bordering Israel on the west and Iraq on the east, adds more dynamics to the mix. Jordan hosts huge numbers of Palestinian refugees and over half of its population is of Palestinian origin, so the atmosphere is generally hostile to Judaism but strained politically and socially as the population balances pro-Palestinian sentiment with frustration over the economic resources expended on refugees. I’m looking forward, in my time here, to discovering how all these factors interact both on the macro political level and the personal level of people’s daily lives, in a country where religion, politics, and social norms are so deeply intertwined.